“Those who were directly involved in matters rarely had a clear vision of what went on around them. On the other hand, those who observed from afar rarely had any inkling on what those directly affected by matters might have felt.” - Nesulcar Marguote, Philosopher from Posuin, circa 72 VA.

For the people who lived in the Clangeddin Empire, the past few decades had been one of joy and prosperity, for the most part. They praised their Emperor wholeheartedly, with respect and adoration that came from the bottom of their hearts. In their eyes, everything the Emperor did in the last few decades had been nothing but attempts to better the lives of his people.

And indeed life had turned for the better for many of those people.

Limitations were set on the amount of taxes lords could levy out of their populace, along with many other reduction of privileges that used to be considered the ancestral rights of the local nobility. While such reforms would have triggered unrest under most other conditions, the Emperor’s timing of pushing them through right after most of his opposition had disgraced themselves during the second expedition allowed him to enact such edicts effectively.

With his own supporters amongst the nobles of the Imperial Court, further bolstered by the new nobility he rewarded with the lands of his disgraced opponents, the Emperor of Clangeddin had firmly centralized power into his hands. Whatever he said, goes. The Emperor wielded the one true authority of the country, and his will shaped its future as he saw fit.

Such centralized power had both its benefits and disadvantages, Aideen thought. On one hand, when it was wielded by a cunning yet relatively benevolent ruler like the current Emperor, much good could be done with it. Reforms that would have never passed without grievous compromises in lands where the nobility held a stronger sway were enacted one after another, for the betterment of both the country and its people.

On the other hand, such a centralized grip on power also meant that all it took was a single bad ruler to spoil the pot for everyone involved.

The people of the Clangeddin Empire would likely be spared of such a fate for at least the next couple of generations, as Aideen had heard only good things about the current Imperial Princes and their children. That said, nobody could predict the future, and all it took was one rotten egg to spoil the entire basket, so she truly had no idea whether this prosperity would be able to last for a long time or not.

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What also somewhat bothered her were the rumors that were often told amongst the populace regarding the Emperor’s seemingly excessive adoration of his younger sister since they were young. Some even jokingly said that the crown prince might actually be a love child between the siblings, though it seemed like such claims were mostly taken as a mere jest.

When Aideen linked it with the rumors about how the Imperial Family supposedly had an obsession with keeping the bloodlines pure – something she heard prior to her travels to the orcish lands decades ago – she couldn’t help but wonder, though. That the Empress was a close cousin to the Emperor himself showed that the man likely also adhered to such beliefs.

The fact that the Imperial Princess never married through her life, without even any rumors of a lover, was also rather suspect in her eyes, but she shelved her concerns in the end. After all, this land was not her land, and the people who actually lived their lives there should be the one to decide how their nation would end up in the future.

Be it for good or ill.

Her own sojourn through the lands was more to take a look at the nation itself. By the time she would return to Alcidea to enact her plans, it was likely that centuries would have passed and things would have changed greatly. Despite that, however, knowing the history of a place would still help clue her in on things that might be potentially useful in the future.

Aideen brought Celia on what amounted to be mostly a sightseeing trip that spanned the entirety of the Empire, from its westernmost reaches to its broad eastern border. They traveled every corner of the Empire over a few years, taking their time on the journey as they were in no particular hurry to head to their next destination.

It was only after their impromptu tour of the Empire had been completed that Aideen headed further east together with Celia. Along the way they passed through the nation of Boroes, one erected by groups of Therian immigrants from the southern continent many ages ago. The small nation was weak compared to its much larger neighbors, but it maintained its independence due to several factors that reinforced each other.

For one, most of the therian-kin that inhabited the land of Boroes were of the larger, more physically imposing variety. Over the nation’s history they had established themselves as tough customers, foes that none of their neighbors truly wished to face if they had other options. Since the therians of Boroes were practically already in exile, they had nowhere else to run to. As such, any nation that tried to invade or subjugate them would only meet the full force of their resistance.

That threat, combined with the relatively poor land the nation was found on – it was the epitome of mediocre land, with no particularly desirable resources and vicious wildlife – meant that it was simply not worth it for their stronger neighbors to throw away resources in order to conquer Boroes. Such an investment would not only fail to pay dividends, it might end up in an overall loss instead.

To begin with, the land where Boroes was founded was uninhabited because not even pioneers from the neighboring lands could stand the place. It was only the hardy nature of the therian refugees, combined with their desperation that allowed them to carve themselves a home from such a place.

As such the small nation continued its existence, where it acted as a sort of buffer between the Clangeddin Empire to its west, the elven lands to its north-east, and the Kingdom Down Under to its south-east. The warming relations between the powers and the opening of trade also allowed them to profit from their location, to become a hub of trade between the three powers.